Paul Casey plays homage to the music of Chris Rea.
I caught Paul Casey shortly after he stepped offstage, eager to praise the classy, unshowy slide guitar that had threaded its way through the night’s wonderful homage to Middlesbrough’s finest. In true Derry self-deprecating fashion, he shrugged and said,:
“Really? I thought I was a bit ropey tonight.”
Well, Paul—on this occasion, you were very much a minority of one.
What unfolded was a warm, heartfelt celebration of Chris Rea’s music, and there’s genuinely no better man to lead the party than Casey. He’s often spoken about how Rea’s records shaped him growing up, and he still tells the story of paying £12.50 to see the great man at the King’s Hall in 1990—then painfully realising he didn’t have the extra £6 for a programme. Fast-forward a few years, and fate repaid that debt: the pair met, hit it off, and Casey later joined Rea’s band, touring and writing with him. (Do yourself a favour and listen to ‘Peace Bridge’, co-written by the two, from Casey’s ‘The Long Road Back’.)
The hits, of course, landed with all the fire and finesse you could hope for—‘Josephine’, ‘The Road to Hell’, ‘Let’s Dance’—and a gorgeous rendition of ‘Fool (If You Think It’s Over)’ featuring some jaw-dropping keys from the ever-brilliant John McCullough.
The deeper cuts really showed the band’s chemistry: the playful bounce of ‘Bombolino’ and a boisterous ‘Stainsby Girls’, with Casey’s bottleneck guitar weaving beautifully around Dann Miller’s lines.
I last saw the show in Derry’s Millennium Forum back in May. The band has since slimmed from nine players to six, but the joy they radiated then is still unmistakably present—infectious, effortless, and constantly spilling out into the audience, who were clearly loving every second.
The encore arrived with a grin. “We have to play it,” Casey told the crowd, before launching into the festive classic ‘Driving Home for Christmas’—cue a full-house singalong. And the final number, ‘Looking for a Rainbow’, brought the night to an epic, uplifting close.
With Chris Rea retired from touring and fans still hungry to hear this music live, it’s no wonder promoters from far and wide are paying attention. There’s already talk of a major European tour on the horizon.
If there was one tiny disappointment, it’s that none of Casey’s own superb songs made the setlist. But with not one but two albums on the way—a collection of fresh Rea reinterpretations and a new album of original material—2026 is shaping up to be a landmark year for the Derry man.
Watch this space.